Social Darwinists believed (during times around the civil war) that being white made them "automatically" better than other people and that is why they deserved more than others. They also saw this in 'Old' and 'New' immigrants. The 'old' immigrants were ok to them because they came from England and were inherently fine to live in the US because they were "better". The 'New' immigrants were "bad" and a lower class to them because they did not come from the same lineage or anything relating to that.